The Mockingjay Rebellion
by RoxasHart
Summary: Another take on Mockingjay. What really happened after Catching Fire? The true story of the rebellion. For anyone who was as unhappy with the third book as I was.
1. Prologue

"Katniss."

Haymitch warned me. He said that there were things in Thirteen that would shock me. His warning was not enough and not just because I was barely listening to him, my anger clouding my hearing. Nothing could have prepared me for the shock that I received when I stepped off the ramp of the hovercraft. A lot of things ran through my mind as I was strapped to that bed. A million possibilities of what I might find in the long thought destroyed district. This was not one of them.

"Katniss."

Gale tried to ease the shock. The words he tried to say after telling me about the destruction of my home were supposed to soften this blow, but I couldn't understand them. Saying that everything goes so much farther than we could have ever imagined. Deeper than the rebellion, the Games, all of it. All the way to the past. It makes sense to me now.

"Katniss."

What does this mean? It's just more lies. More deception. And not just coming from the Capitol. Everyone is lying to me. Telling me what they think I want to hear, so I will do what they want. And look what it has gotten me. Gale hurt by the fire bombs. Peeta in the arms of the Capital. Who knows what kind of harm they are doing to him? Even Joanna Mason, who a couple days ago, I hated. She was a pawn in this just as much as Peeta and I were. Now she is paying the price for it.

"Katniss, say something."

What should I say? What can I say? This is too much. It's taking everything inside me not to run and find Haymitch and try to claw his eyes out again. He knew all this time and kept it from me, just like everything else. Made fun of me even. And now standing in front of me is the impossible.

It does go so much farther than I could have imagined.

I open my mouth to say the only thing that I can force out. "Dad?"


	2. Chapter 1

"I know you have a million questions. It's natural. We will get you all the answers you need. I promise." The man who looks and sounds very much like my father is leading me through the corridors leading into the depths of District Thirteen. He said something about Command, but shock is keeping me from processing exactly what that means.

How can this be my father? It's impossible. Who was in that mine that exploded years ago? Who was it that I cried over night after night? My father can't be walking in front of me when he has been dead for six years. I have six years of nightmares to keep me from believing it.

"Where's Mom? Where's Prim?"

"They're in the hospital. Your mother has been tending to the injured from Twelve. Prim has been helping. She's been remarkable in there. It's amazing how much she has grown, how much both of you…"

He lets the sentence hang in the air. He has to realize that I am not ready for this. We can't have this level of closeness. Not yet. Not after everything that I have been through.

The corridors are leading us further and further down. All of District Thirteen is underground. I guess Bonnie and Twill were right the whole time. The entire district moved underground. The destruction of Thirteen was vast. The only thing left was the ruins that the Capital showed on the television every once in a while to frighten us. Unlike what we were shown, the real ones aren't still smoking. Grass has started to grow in the cracks of the half destroyed Justice Building. Nature has taken over what was left behind.

But the people survived. Seventy five years ago, the leaders were well aware of what the Capital was planning. Before the Dark Days even began, Thirteen had people working on the underground structures that would one day be their home. So when the bombs were dropped, very few people actually lost their lives. That's more than can be said for the people of Twelve.

Gale is the reason anyone survived at all. His entire family was at my house, watching the Games when our escape was made. When the explosions started in the arena, the electricity was cut. Gale assumed it was only the beginning. He was right. It took him seconds to gather up both our families and start running. Screaming through the streets, people started to join them. The planes reached them before they even made it to the Meadow. The bombs started to fall. The district went up in flames. People burned as they ran. When they reached the Meadow, Gale, along with many others ripped the fence out of the ground. They flooded into the woods, not caring about the animals that they were so scared of before.

For hours, they ran. The smoke and fire from Twelve was all they could see. It wasn't until they reached my lake that they stopped. They were far enough that they couldn't feel the ground shake from the bombs anymore. But they were still falling. The planes kept up the attack for hours, even though they had already destroyed everything. It was a true show of their power.

Thirteen's hovercrafts started to show up when the last of the planes had finally left. They picked up the survivors and took them away to the hidden depths of a new district.

I should be happy about this. My mother and sister were among that group rescued from the lake. But something is blocking me. If it weren't for Thirteen, the thousand or so people who got out might not be alive. The Capital could have sent the planes back to where the survivors were hiding. It's a good thing that Thirteen was there. But that just leaves me with the question, "Where have they been all this time?"

"We're here, Katniss." We've stopped in front of a set of metal double doors. I have no idea how deep in the ground we are. I stopped paying attention halfway down. My feet have just been blindly following this man. "Welcome to Command."

With a push of a button, the doors slide open. Inside is a vast room, unlike anything I have ever seen before, even in the Capitol. All four walls are completely covered in computers, some with screens as big as a wall of my old house in the Seam. The screens are alive with pictures of many different places. There are only a few that I recognize. One shows the town square in District 11, though it looks a lot different from when I went through on the Victory Tour.

I stick close because I suddenly don't want to be left alone in this strange place. The man is the only person I can cling to at this moment. It's hard to attach yourself but keep your distance at the same time.

"Ms. Everdeen, it is a great honor to meet you." A woman a couple inches taller than me quickly walks towards us. Her grey hair is long and is pulled back into a pony tail that hangs down her back. "I'm Paranyia Coin. I'm president of District Thirteen."

President Coin. President of Thirteen. What does the job of the president of a lost district entail? Does she sit by all these giant screens and watch the devastation that has been running rampant through all the other districts? Do they have nightly showings of the Hunger Games, like all the other houses in Panem, only with more food? Is that what this whole district has been doing all these years while we've starved to death?

President Coin is looking at me, expecting me to say something, but what is there to say? I have no words for this woman. What could she possibly expect me to say right now?

When no words are forthcoming, she decides to fill the void. "I'm sure you must still be in fair amount of shock after everything that you have been through. Please, sit and we'll talk."

A hand leads me to one of the chairs that surround the table in the center of this giant room. I don't want to look behind me, but I know the hand belongs to that man. I really wish my mother was here. I need to see a comforting face right now. I am surrounded by people who I don't know or trust.

The chair is comfortable, but I am not. I could probably make it to the door before any of them could stop me. But then what? I have no idea how to get out of here. I should have been paying more attention on the trip down. Besides, I couldn't leave. Somewhere in this underground maze is my mother and Prim. I can't leave them behind. Not again.

"Ms. Everdeen…"

"Katniss. My name is Katniss."

"Katniss, I know you have a lot of questions. There's no way that you couldn't. You've had very little time to process a great deal of information. We are going to try to answer anything you might want to know. You're father…"

I give a physical jerk to her calling the man that. She notices and lets the subject drop. I am making this difficult for her. But what else can I do? I don't know this woman or this man sitting next to me. I haven't exactly made a habit of trusting people that I don't know.

"Perhaps it would be better if we waited for the leader to arrive." The man next to me nods his head in agreement.

"The leader? You aren't the leader?"

"I'm the president of District Thirteen, not the leader of this rebellion. That I'm afraid is beyond my capabilities. I'm a gifted diplomat, but it takes an extraordinary strategist to pull off this kind of coup."

So what would happen if this leader didn't exist? Since she is not a strategist, would she have never come to our aid? Would she just have sat in this underground bunker until all of the other districts were destroyed? What about after that?

President Coin seems to be following my thoughts because the expression on her face changes drastically. Her eyes seem softer, losing the look of joy she had when she first met me. "You must think us terrible. This whole district sitting here well fed, while your family has been starving and forced to fight in the Games."

"The thought did cross my mind."

"I completely understand, Katniss. How could you think anything else after everything you've been through? There are…"

Her words are cut off by a man running over to the table and whispering words in her ear. Her eyes swiftly change again, hardening. She looks over to the man. "It's time." Both of them sit up straighter in their chairs.

I'm confused. Looking around me I ask, "What's it time for?"

"The leader's hovercraft has arrived. It shouldn't be long now." Is it just me or do I hear a crack in Coin's voice? Could she be nervous?

"Who is this leader?"

"You'll find out in a moment." A hand falls on my shoulder. I flinch, but my nerves are too on edge to do anything to remove it. Soon I am going to have to face the fact about who this man says he is, but there is no time right now.

It seems that the whole room is a little on edge. People are working hard to appear busy at their different screens, even the ones who have nothing to do. Is this leader such an opposing figure that all these people are scared? What kind of person, besides President Snow, can have that kind of effect on people?

The doors to Command slide open and a group of men are standing there. They look very much like the Peacekeepers that have been plaguing the districts, but their uniforms are different. They also don't look as hard and mean as the ones that we have become used to. They look more like the old ones that I grew up with, like Darius.

The soldiers march into the room. They are surrounding someone. This must be the leader. As the men step aside to reveal the important person that they are protecting, I am suddenly glad that I am sitting down. I couldn't take this shock standing up.

"I hope everyone is ready for another big, big, big day." Effie Trinket stands there with a beaming smile on her face.


	3. Chapter 2

Effie pulls the gaudy, pink wig from her head. I've never seen her without her exaggerated hair. I've never even tried to imagine what she would look like if she took it off. So it seems strange to see her with a perfectly normal shade of brown hair on her head.

"Thank goodness I can stop doing that voice now. It was starting to give me a headache." Hearing the change in her voice makes me stare harder. It's so normal, nothing at all like the high pitched, Capitol accent that I am so used to. It sounded so natural coming from her, no one would have assumed that it was fake.

This is the leader? Effie? Whiny, prim and proper, obsessed with manners and schedules Effie? This is the great strategist that President Coin was just telling me about? Am I in the middle of some great joke? Is the Capitol just playing with me? Will Snow walk through the door next with a smile stretched across his unnaturally red lips?

"Effie?"

She's been looking at me since she stepped into the room. Her eyes trying to see below my surface to read what is there. "Katniss, you brave girl." She breaks away from her bodyguards and moves to me. Her arms wrap around my shoulders and squeeze. I'm pulled a couple inches from the chair in her embrace. "I'm so glad that it all worked and we could get you out in time."

"I don't understand."

"I know you don't. And that's our fault. There was only so much that we could tell you without ruining everything. We didn't want to keep you in the dark. This was not what we had originally planned to have happen."

What did they originally plan? How long have these plans been going on? Effie has been the escort for Twelve's tributes for as long as I can remember. Has she been part of this the whole time? Why has no one ever mentioned any of this? I am going to kill Haymitch the next time I see him.

Effie releases me and I drop back into my chair. My head is swimming. My brain is about to explode from everything. Everyone keeps saying how they know I must be in so much shock, but they keep piling on the surprises. If they want me to cope with this, they need to give me time before they throw something else at me.

"Katniss, there will be time for us to sit down and have a long talk about everything. I will tell you anything and everything you want to know, but there is work to be done right now." She turns from me and her face completely changes. Her eyes grow hard and official. Suddenly, idiotic Effie Trinket is someone I don't want to cross. "I need a status report."

President Coin stands from her seat. She stands so straight her spine may snap. "The diversion hovercrafts were successful in leading the Capitol forces away from our people. They weren't able to track where Katniss went. Right now, they think she is making her way through the wilderness outside of District 5."

"Excellent. Have the teams lay down false trails leading towards Six and Eight. What is happening with the video surveillance feeds?"

A man sitting at one of the smaller computer screens turns in his chair. "We've managed to bypass the firewalls in the Capitol's systems without triggering an alarm. So far we have access to feeds in Districts 2, 8 and 11. We are working on getting into the Capitol's main lines so we can watch what's going on there."

"Keep working on it, but be careful. The main feeds will have a higher level of protection. If they detect our access, then they will most likely be able to trace its origin and access our systems."

She puts a hand on my father's shoulder. "Malric, how are our defenses here in Thirteen?"

"They're good. The Capitol is aware of our involvement. They've attempted seventeen different attacks since the break out, all of which have been unsuccessful. Our protection field has taken down all ground and air assaults. For now, they seem to have gotten the message and have stopped their attacks. It's only a matter of time before they make another go at it though."

"Put as much power as we can into keeping that field going. Make sure that the Capitol's sensor probes are being jammed. They can try to hit us, but they still aren't sure what is out here, so we still have the element of surprise there."

Watching Effie walk around the table, taking charge and giving orders, it suddenly becomes clear what she is. This is not the frilly twit that has been my escort. She's also not just the leader of this rebellion. She's a Gamemaker. And this is her own version of The Hunger Games. She's a master at this.

"Now, the first thing we need to get to is…"

Her words are interrupted by another one of the men sitting at a computer. "We have an emergency broadcast coming out of the Capitol. It being broadcast to the whole country."

Everyone around me quickly gets out of their chairs, moving towards the largest monitor in the room. I move to follow them just as the screen changes to the seal of Panem. The anthem blares, hurting my ears.

The seal is quickly replaced by a close up of President Snow's face. Hatred courses through me. I want to reach through the screen and grab the man's neck until his eyes bulge from his head. He has to pay for everything he has done, not just to me, but to the whole country. How can he be responsible for so much evil?

"People of Panem, as many of you know by now, we have been hit by an act of terrorism. A group of rebels, claiming to have the best interest of the country in mind has taken it upon themselves to disrupt the traditions we hold most dear by defiling this year's Hunger Games. Acts of this nature must be stopped. They will only ruin the work and sacrifices that have brought peace to our country."

Peace to who? The only ones who benefit for this so called peace is the Capitol. And what did the people of District 12 do that could be considered an act of terrorism, besides knowing me? Does the rest of the country know what happened to my home? Has the Capitol used footage of the devastation to strike fear in the rest of the rebelling districts?

"These rebels broke into the arena to rescue the remaining victors in hopes of using them, but their plans were flawed. They were unable to capture all of their targets." Peeta. He's talking about Peeta. "And to show that even their foolish plans are not match for the might of the Capitol, we will execute their targets."

Execute their targets? No. He can't do this. Not Peeta.

The screen changes, showing the same stage where we did out Tribute interviews. But it's not set up for the flashy show now. There's nothing on the stage but a large group of Peacekeepers. No audience fills the area to watch this scene. Behind the front line of soldiers, I can see someone on their knees, but their faces is blocked. Please don't be Peeta.

"Let this be a reminder to all who think they can bring down our great nation."

On the screen, the Peacekeepers separate to reveal the kneeling figure. Enobaria. She looks so different than she did in the arena. Her face is covered in bruises. One of her eyes is swollen shut. In many places, her skin is streaked with blood. I've lost track of time. How long have we been out of the arena? Enough time to cause that much damage to the fearless woman I met in the Games?

Without another word and no warning, several of the Peacekeepers raise their guns and shoot Enobaria. Her body falls to the ground and continues to jerk as more bullets hit her. She was dead from the first shot, but the Peacekeepers don't stop. The bullets keep flying until their guns are empty. When there are no more shots to fire, the Peacekeepers file off the stage, leaving the dead woman alone.

The scream moves of up from my stomach and there is no controlling it. "No! Why?" I try to rush the screen, but arms wrap around me to pull me back. I fight them, trying to kick and claw my way to freedom. "She was on their side. She didn't have anything to do with what happened in the arena."

"They don't care, Katniss." Effie's voice is trying to calm me down, but it barely registers in my head. "They are just trying to show what they are willing to do to stop the districts from fighting."

I break free from the arms holding me, but instead of moving towards the screen, I run for the door. It doesn't open in front of me. My fists pound into the metal and the buttons in the wall, but the door still doesn't open. "Let me out!"

My father moves closer to me, his hands raised towards me in a calming gesture. "Katniss…"

"LET ME OUT!"

Everyone in the room looks to Effie. President Coin may be the boss of this district, but it's clear that Effie is calling the shots. She is who I give a murderous stare until she gives a small nod of her head.

The doors slide open behind me and I run out the room.


	4. Chapter 3

I ran for what felt like hours through the halls of Thirteen. There was no pattern to the place, so I got lost quickly. It didn't matter anyway because I was running blindly. People were quick to move out of my way, probably from the crazed look on my face.

My first thought was to hunt down the hospital, find Prim and my mother. I know they would be there with open arms and comforting words. They'd try to say all the right things. But they wouldn't quiet the rushing river of thoughts flowing through my head. Nothing they could ever say would erase the sight of Enobaria's lifeless body, or stop me from picture Peeta there next.

So I ran. I ran until my legs ached and then kept going. Anytime I came to across a staircase going up, I took it. If I went up enough, eventually I'd reach the top. Then there would be a door and the outside. Fresh air.

The two soldiers guarding the first door I came to must have been warned because they let me through without even trying to stop me. They both even nodded their heads as I passed.

It wasn't until I was free from the underground prison that I could breathe right. The air was so different inside, stale. Filling my lungs with clean air calms me a little. My head didn't clear, but I felt some of the panic drain. Taking a few calming breaths, I took in my surroundings.

The landscape of District 13 didn't have much to look at. The only things besides the Justice Building were small piles of rubble. It was hard to imagine that an entire district used to take up that space. Almost all signs of an above ground civilization were obliterated.

None of that held my interest. My focus was immediately drawn to the line of trees leading into a lush forest. I didn't even think, just took off for the only thing that made sense in my life since I set foot in the district.

I didn't run through the woods long before finding this small pond. I threw myself in the water the second I got here, submerging my head to release long pent up screams. When I ran out of breath, I came up for air, only to quickly go back under to scream again. After a while, I had nothing left, so I crawled back to the forest floor and sat.

That was hours ago. I've been here ever since.

My bare feed move through the mud at the bottom of the pond. I am forcing my brain to focus on that small action along. Anything else will cause all the other thoughts to come rushing back and I'll be screaming underwater again.

The water becomes cloudy as my feet stir the mud. I notice small green roots floating to the top. Carefully, I scoop up a handful and bring them close to my face. I recognize the roots at once.

"As long as you can find yourself, you'll never starve."

I cringe at the voice. I knew he would eventually find me out here. Of all the people today, he would be the one to know where I'd run. And as much as I would like to get up and keep running, I know I can't. This has to happen eventually.

"What are you doing out here?"

"I thought we could talk. It seemed easier to do it out here than in the middle of Command, don't you think?" My father sits down on the ground beside me and starts unlacing his boots. Soon, his bare feet are in the water next to me. "We used to have some good talks in the woods."

"We used to have a lot of thing."

He releases a heavy sigh. "I know you're angry, Katniss. You have every right to be. But, there are things you don't understand."

"Maybe so, but there are things that I do, like starving. I understand the look on Prim's face when she hasn't had enough to eat in days. I understand what it's like to suffer for years because there was no other choice. And you weren't there. I understand that too."

"I wanted to be there, Katniss. I couldn't. You would have been in a great deal of danger if I had stayed. We staged the mine accident because it was the only way to make sure you were all safe."

We were starving. We could have died. It's hard to imagine how that could be considered safe. "What could have been worth it?"

"We were planning our own rebellion. Deep in the mines, actions were being taken to free all of District 12. Some of the older mine shafts lead farther than the Capitol knew. The people from Thirteen found their way to us through there. They shared information with us, things we could not ignore. A plan started to form. I was deeply involved. You remember from all our time in the woods my views on the Capitol. How could I not take part? It was a good plan too, until the Capitol started to hear rumors about it. We don't know who betrayed us or what for? Probably someone who was looking for enough money to buy food."

Information like that could have kept a family in food for at least a month. That is if the Capitol didn't kill the person afterwards. They've been known to do that just to get out of paying their debts.

"They were going to blow up the mine themselves. We beat them to it. It had to look like an accident so that the Capitol would believe we were really dead. If they didn't it would have all come back on our families. They Capitol would have tortured you. All ties had to be cut."

"You should have still let us know somehow. We were in hell. Mom disappeared into her own mourning, completely forgetting about Prim and I. We could have died. While what? You were here in Thirteen, watching us starve."

"No. I've been working with the rebels here to orchestrate the revolution that we have needed since the Dark Days. That's what started all of this."

"What do you mean?"

He pulls his feet out of the water and rubs them on the grass. "The Capitol has been trying to monitor our activities for years. They know we're here, plotting against them, and they are desperate for some clue as to what we have planned. Since they couldn't get through our computer programs, they decided to try to smoke us out, using their greatest weapon against us. The Games."

"How? What did they do?"

"They targeted the families of people they suspected were here. People's whose deaths they couldn't verify, like mine. Prim's name was the only one in the ball. There were no other options for tribute, not until you volunteered."

All of those slips of paper and Prim's name was the only one written on them. Her being in the games had been orchestrated from the very beginning. That means I have been ruining the Capitol's plan from the very beginning. No wonder they hate me so much.

"We tried to break you out that year, but we couldn't get a plan together in time. It was too short of a notice. So we had to watch as our children died. Some of the other tribute's parents live here, Rue's father is one of them. It was a hard year. But then something happened that no one expected. You. The mockingjay. The symbol of hope to the whole country. It's just what we needed to finally enact a true rebellion."

"Why wait until I came along?" I am suddenly very hungry. If I hadn't been in such a blind terror as I ran through the halls, I would have thought about bringing some food along with me.

As if reading my mind, my father reaches into the bag he placed on the ground and pulls out a loaf of bread. He breaks off a large portion and hands it to me. It's not warm anymore, but it's still fresh. My first instinct is to throw it in the water, but my stomach won. I rip into it like it's the first thing I've ever eaten.

"Because you did something that no one has ever been able to do. You united the districts in a way that whispers and spies could never do. You turned the Games against the Capitol."

I've seen the rallies and the fighting. Rebels using the mockingjay as their symbol to fight, but am I really responsible or was it just too much for the people to take anymore. The oppression of Districts has been going on for so long and has been so severe that surely the people just had enough. Everyone has their breaking point.

"Because of you, plans changed. With you, we knew that it was finally time to start what we have been planning for so long."

I don't say anything. I don't know what I would do if open my mouth, cry or scream. This man is my father. I remember all of the happy memories we had, especially in the woods. But, he left, faking his own death. My mother may have mentally shut down, but she was still physically there. Why shouldn't I hate him?

"I know you can't forgive me. That's you're right. I did what I did to protect you, but it must still feel like abandonment. I'm sorry. But, I knew that you would figure out a way to keep the family going. After everything I taught you, I trusted that you would carry on without me."

What makes it okay to put that on an eleven year old girl's shoulders? How is that right? How could he think I was ready to handle that? He can say he thought about us all he wants but his actions speak a lot louder than his words. How could I ever begin to forgive that?

"I know I wasn't there before, but I'm here now. And I will be here when you are ready to talk. No matter what you have to say, I will listen."

He may be waiting a long time. I am in no mood to open up to him. If there is one thing I've learned in my life is that people will always let you down, be it family or hidden districts.

The rustling of leaves makes me turn away from my father. Effie is standing a little ways away, her hand resting on one of the trees. A flash of anger courses through me, one that I've only felt when looking at President Snow. She's just as bad as the rest of them.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but you might want to come back inside. President Snow just made a national address announcing Katniss's death."


	5. Chapter 4

The screens show an image of a burning hovercraft. The fire has not only destroyed the metal of the ship, but also a large portion of the land around it. I can't tell where this is, judging from the surrounding land. It must be a part of the large areas of wilderness that surround most of the districts. Other monitors show the same image, just from different angles. The Capitol is making sure that this wreck can be seen from every side.

"This has been playing nonstop for the last hour. Snow has made it mandatory viewing for the whole country."

I bet he has. How could he pass up the opportunity to make the whole country think I'm dead? I just don't know if he really believes it or if he is just trying to make the country believe it. How good of a job did Thirteen do of making it look like I was really on that hovercraft?

On the bottom corner of the screen, a newscaster's image appears. "To repeat what has been unfolding, a hovercraft has been brought down on the outskirts of District 6. This is the ship that was used to aid the escape of the wanted fugitive Katniss Everdeen. No survivors have been found in the wreckage and it is assumed that all members on board have died, Ms. Everdeen included. President Snow will be on shortly to make an official public address." The newscaster puts on a sickly sweet smile that only can be used in the Capitol. "Today certainly is a great day for the country of Panem."

That is surely what they are thinking in the Capitol, but how is the rest of the country taking this news. Are they revolting in the street because their mockingjay has fallen? Or have they taken it like the defeat the Capitol has been hoping for? It's hard to say what this will cause. Will it feed the fire or extimguish it?

The screen suddenly cuts the newscaster's words off, replaced by the seal of Panem. The anthem blares from the speakers. I hate this song. Sometimes in my worst nightmares, the anthem is the soundtrack, forever linking that music to horrors in my mind.

When the awful noise quiets, the screens change to a shot of Snow standing on the balcony of the Presidential Mansion. He stands in front of a microphone, looking down on a group of Capitol citizens below. Murmurs of excitement ripple through the crowd.

Snow raises his hands, signaling for silence. The chatter dies down until the only noise is the wind blowing across the microphone.

"My words go out to all of Panem. Today is a day that shall be remembered for years to come." His voice echoes loudly. "A great threat has been eliminated. Katniss Everdeen was not that threat. She was just a girl in a pretty dress. A girl who has only done things to save her own life. The real threat lies in people putting their faith in the idea of her. Some people have used her as a symbol in what they are calling the Mockingjay Rebellion. Today's actions by brave Capitol soldiers should put those ideas to rest. Our faith should not be with a meaningless girl from District 12, but with the leaders in the Capitol who keep us safe, give us food, and give us homes. With Ms. Everdeen's passing, it is my hope that the misguided among us can put aside their foolish thoughts and become members of our great country once more."

And with that, he turns away from the microphone and walks back into his mansion.

So that's how President Snow sees me? A silly girl in a pretty dress? Well, I've managed to stir up a lot of trouble in this country. No bad for a meaningless girl from District 12. I don't know if I am more angry or insulted.

Effie stands up from her chair. "We have to figure out a way to spin this. Snow is being arrogant, making announcements before he has proof. We can work that to our advantage. At the right moment, just as Snow has thought he's won, we reveal Katniss to the country. Rally them behind her and her ability to survive no matter what the Capitol throws at her."

I didn't think I could get any angrier after hearing Snow's words, but I was wrong. I want to jump over this table and rip her hair out of her head. What I gave to Haymitch on the hovercraft was nothing compared to what I can picture doing to her. She must know it because she is refusing to look me in the eyes.

"Has anyone here thought about asking Katniss before they make plans for her? She might have something to say about the matter." My words fly out of my mouth before I can stop them. And they are laced with venom.

Everyone turns to me, some with open mouthed shock. Not Effie though. She's been expecting it. For the first time, she turns and looks at me like I am the only one in the room. "Of course we should take your opinion into account. I'm sorry. It's been a while since I have had to do that."

"I know. Apparently you have been the one pulling the strings the whole time. So you are the one responsible for sending Peeta and me in to the arena without zero knowledge of the plan. Making us look like idiots and letting the Capitol get their hands on Peeta." My voice is rising, so much so that people in the room are backing away.

Effie holds her ground. "Katniss, you have to believe…"

"Is that something you want to ask of me right now? As many times as you've lied. You have been lying the entire time I've known you, even before the Games."

Finally, she is starting to lose some of her composure. I feel a small bit of satisfaction from this. This is a victory that I can enjoy.

A tentative hand lands on my shoulder. I don't have to turn to know that it's my father. He obviously can't tell that this is probably not the best move to make right now. With the state I'm in, I could very easily turn my attack on him. There aren't many people here that I couldn't turn my anger on.

I shake his hand off my shoulder. He takes the hint and doesn't try to put it back.

Effie puts her hands on her hips. "Clear the room, please." She's talking to everyone else in the room but her look doesn't leave my eyes. "It's time for Katniss and I to talk."


	6. Chapter 5

Effie and I just stare at each other. We've been staring at each other for five minutes, each waiting for the other to start, but neither knowing where to. My mind cannot wrap around this woman sitting in front of me. A woman I thought I knew. Someone who, despite what idiotic ideas she had, I thought was my friend.

But she's none of those things, is she? It was all an act. That's all everything has been since this all started. The only thing that was real was being put in danger in the Games, having to kill or be killed. All while everyone around me played little games without even telling me what was going on. Because that is all I have ever been to these people, a piece in their even bigger Games.

"Is your name even Effie Trinket?" The words come out of my mouth. I didn't even realize I was thinking them.

She looks down at the table. "It used to Effie Maxin, but that was a long time ago when I was just a girl living in District 8."

"You're not from the Capitol?"

"No. I was born in Eight. I was the youngest of four children. Every last member of my family worked in the factories. And that's where I would have ended up too, if it weren't for Horan Trinket coming through town. He was an inspector for the Capitol, who routinely came through to check up on the productivity. He took a liking to me. Eventually, he got permission from the Capitol to bring me back with him."

"You must have been happy to get out the district."

A sad look passes across her face. She places her hands flat on the table. "No. I was not. I had no interest in going with him, but I was not given a choice. When my family tried to protest and hide me, they were killed."

I gasp involuntarily. More deaths just to get the Capitol what they wanted. Every part of me doesn't want to sympathize with her, but I do.

"So I was brought to the Capitol and was married to Horan. To spend as much time away from him as I could, I began searching for a job. The biggest industry in the Capitol is, of course, the Games. My first job was in the Mentor Hall, where the mentors gathered during the Games to strategize with their tributes. I learned so much about the other districts from there. I knew things were bad everywhere, I just didn't know how bad. Seeing what I saw there, I swore to do something about it."

"It wasn't easy. The Capitol has ears everywhere. But through the mentors, information was spreading. I didn't start out to be the leader of this rebellion. I just wanted to help. But my job kept me in contact with so many different people from the districts that I became a bigger part that I could have imagined. Ideas that I had were being not only accepted, but used."

She stands up from the table and moves aimlessly through the room. Her fingers twitch until she balls them up into fists. "And the Horan got a promotion. He became a key member in the Capitol government, working very closely with President Snow. And that was the break we needed."

"Why? What happened?" I am leaning forward in my chair, my arms resting on the table. Despite myself, I am interesting in her story.

"Horan was an idiot of a man. He didn't know how to keep his mouth shut. Every night he would come home and let out every bit of information that he came across. Troop movements. Capitol raids. Monitoring of District 13. There wasn't a national secret that that man wouldn't spill. And I was able to pass that information along. Mentors took that information back to their districts where word has started to spread. Haymitch was the most helpful of them all."

"Haymitch? Really?"

"Oh yes. You wouldn't think it, but underneath all that alcohol is a man who hates the Capitol as much as everyone else and just looking for a chance to bring it down. He was more than eager to take the information I gave him and use it. He was the one who first made contact with Thirteen. When you're father discovered the mine shaft that lead far out of the district, Haymitch was the one who snuck out. He was gone for days, but it didn't raise anyone's attention because they assumed he was just drunk again. He brought the people from Thirteen back. Information began to spread like wildfire. Your father was able to meet them in the woods when you didn't go with him. It was everything we needed."

"Horan died not long after that so there was no more information to be gotten from him. The job of escort for Twleve came open, so I grabbed it. Twelve was the place to be with the activity in the mines and Thirteen coming in. I was able to take that information back to the Capitol and give it to the district sympathizers there, people like Plutarch."

Her constant fidgeting is making me restless. It's contagious and I have to force myself to stop playing with my fingers.

I understand what she was doing. I get that she helped a lot of people with this information that she ran between the districts. But how does any of that make it okay for her to use me and Peeta the way that she did?

Perhaps I am being selfish. The whole country is being oppressed by the Capitol and I am just one person. Surely the whole country is more important that just me. But I have years of practice looking out for myself and my family, so it's more natural of me to think about us first.

"What about the ridiculous hair and outfits and attitude?"

"Those are all mannerism I picked up from Horan. I studied the way he acted and mimicked them. Slowly at first. When I first got to the Capitol I was still the girl from District 8, but I slowly changed. No one grew suspicious because they thought I was just acclimating to the environment and it allowed me to play my part. Katniss, do you think for a moment that I don't regret every reprehensible word that came out of my mouth?"

I look away. It's getting difficult to look at her again. "You were pretty convincing."

"I had to be. If I wasn't the Capitol would have been all over me. Especially after what happened with your father. They were watching Twelve like hawks. Every move we made had to be calculated. When security started to die down in the district it was only because the Capitol thought that the rebels there would lower their guard. Luckily, we were smarter than that and we were for years, until they sent Romulus Thread in to tighten up."

I stand up from the table and start to walk around. I have so much energy built up from everything that has happened that I feel ready to explode. Now that some time has passed and I have been able to process the massive amount of information that has been thrown at me since I stepped off the hovercraft, my body feels the need to do something. "So where did I come into the picture?"

"When the Capitol enacted their plan to flush out the rebels who had escaped here, we weren't sure how we were going to react. Your father was ready to burst into the middle of Twelve, guns blazing, the second he found out that Prim's name was going to be in the bowl. It took a great deal to talk him down, but luckily we did. And then you volunteered. Something that is very uncommon outside of the Career districts. And I saw the chance."

"What chance?"

"You were willing to sacrifice yourself for your sister. That act alone struck at the hearts of the entire country, even the fools in the Capitol. From that moment, you had a following, people were on your side. We exploited it. While we were travelling to the Games, I was in contact with Cinna to get your costume together. It was important to make you stand out, something that Cinna was excellent at. Every aspect of your prep for the first Games was designed to make you impossible to resist to all the people needing a rallying point. And that's not to mention what you did in the Games without any help from us."

"So you admit that you used me and treated me like a toy that you could play with."

"I admit it, yes. Katniss, I am not saying what I did was good. I'm saying that I did what needed to be done. And I left you out of the loop because the more you look naïve to your whole situation, the safer you were. If President Snow even for a second believed that you acted intentionally towards rallying the people, you would have been executed immediately. To hell with pretense. But because you truly didn't know what you were causing, President Snow didn't kill you."

No. He didn't kill me. Tried to a couple times. Threatened me several. But never killed me.

"Please understand, Katniss. You may not have seen it for yourself, but I saw it the second you volunteered. There is something about you that the people love and are willing to stand up to the Capitol because of you."

"And what about Peeta?" He should be the one that the country is rallying around. His words have the power to stir this rebellion and direct its path, not my actions. President Snow was right about one thing. Those berries were never meant to spark people's anger, they were meant to save my life. And Peeta's.

"Peeta's capture was unexpected. We had planned to get you both out of there, but hovercrafts arrived before we could. I'm sorry that we had to leave him. We are monitoring as much of the Capitol as we can. They haven't harmed him yet. We will know the second anything happens."

"And then what?"

"Oh, Katniss. You underestimate us. We have a plan. And if we have to burn the Capitol to the ground to accomplish it, we will."

A cunning smile crosses her lips. And I find myself smiling in return.

t here...


End file.
